From 1996 to 1997, the University of Wisconsin-Madison Medical School, Center for Tobacco Research and Intervention developed strategies for dissemination of the Agency for Health Care Policy and Research's (AHCPR) Clinical Practice Guideline on Smoking Cessation to a broad spectrum of health care providers.

Subsequently, from 1997 to 2000, five organizations of health professionals carried out dissemination activities tailored to their constituencies. The organizations included:

• American Academy of Pediatrics
• American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists
• American Medical Women's Association
• American Nurses Foundation
• Creighton University

Drafted by an expert panel, the guideline provides primary care clinicians, smoking cessation specialists, health care administrators, insurers and purchasers with recommendations on interventions that have been demonstrated to be effective in scientific studies.

The Agency for Health Care Policy and Research is the federal agency that supports research designed to improve the quality of health care, reduce its costs and broaden access to essential services.

Key Results

• The project helped raise awareness among approximately 150,000 health care providers regarding the availability and utility of the guideline as a clinical tool at a time when tobacco control issues were commanding national attention.

Funding
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) supported this project through six grants — one to each of the organizations above — totaling $235,654.